


I Met You In The Dark

by TwoCatsTailoring



Series: The Lives Within [14]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Alcohol, Awkward situations, F/M, NSFW, the girl gladio talks about at hammerhead after the timeskip
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-03
Updated: 2017-07-10
Packaged: 2018-11-22 21:21:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,701
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11388669
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TwoCatsTailoring/pseuds/TwoCatsTailoring
Summary: Gladio goes to a festival, gets drunk, kisses one girl, wakes up the next day with another one, and might just have met the woman of his dreams.





	1. Chapter 1

Gladiolus Amicitia had a plan. It was a good plan, a sound plan. A foolproof plan for how to enjoy this festival in the middle of hell. Sure, it was meant to celebrate the alliance of Lucis, Accordo and Niflheim’s people, coming together in the midst of the long dark night and working together to make life easier to live. And that was great and it was worth it because it was working really well but it had been working well for the past eight years so really? It was just an excuse to party.

And Gladio loved an excuse to party. It was a license to let go of all the tension, get sloshed free of judgement, and find some lovely girl to enjoy the event with. Just because he’d blown past 30 didn’t mean he was dead yet.

And there she was. All dark hair and skin like fresh honey, pretty as a picture and giving as good as he was in terms of the once-over. Her name was Penny – which was great because that had been the smallest denomination Insomnian currency back in the day so there was no shortage of good-natured commentary as she was the tallest woman he’d ever met and from Altissia. The amount of alcohol he’d had at that point probably made those things funnier than they actually were.

So they did what this festival was meant to do: celebrate. Weaving between the stands of food and wares from all three nations, wandering through the streets where the refined violins of Altissia bled into the steel drums of Lestallum and all that flowed into the brassy horns of Niflheim. “They’re playing our song, sweetheart,” he’d insisted and she’d laughed.

Penny was pretty deep into her cups too so when they came to a lull in the cacophony of people and music, it wasn’t hard to find other ways to keep their mouths busy. Sweet though, because she pushed him back when it tried to slip her some tongue. Then a friend of hers came bouncing up and the height difference between them and the friend’s ridiculously red hair got the conversation started again, the drinks flowed freely, and things went from a little blurry to a total mystery.

And things stayed a mystery until there was knock on his door the next morning. Afternoon. The headache from the small sound echoing around his microscopic studio made it very clear that he had probably pickled his liver the night before and the sounds of the steel drums through the open window did not a damned bit of good, either. He untangled from his sheets and the girl in them – funny how tall people could roll up so small when they were asleep – and padded across the room, not really caring if the person at his door got an eyeful. It was probably somebody he knew anyway.

And it was.

It was Penny.

Who was arriving for the lunch date they’d made the night before.

She brushed past him into his room as he stammered and tried to get his alcohol-infused brain to solve this problem before it got out of hand only to be greeted with the woman in his bed waking up, tossing the covers off with an explosive, “Shit, I’m gonna be late for work!” with her untidy red hair sticking up at odd angles as she fairly flew around the room, gathering up her clothes.

Gladio was frozen. It all came back to him in a rush that did nothing to improve his headache and everything to ruin a day in the first five minutes.

Penny, for her part, just stood there and blinked at her friend as if this was nothing new to her at all, though the location might have been a little surprising. “Danica, being late once is not going to cost you your job.”

This seemed to call Danica back into the present reality and she froze as well, turning to snap her head between Penny and Gladio and back again before she squeaked out the smallest, fakest laugh Gladio had ever heard.

Gladio had never in his life been in a situation this weird. If Penny had gotten angry or said something or done anything it would have been better than silent exchange of Looks between the two women who would occasionally look at him in some strange, mutual assessment. They were having a whole conversation with their eyes and he was the sole topic of it. It dragged on for way too long and Gladio finally had enough. He raised a hand and opened his mouth only to have Penny interrupt him with a smile.

“So, no lunch date for you,” she said to Gladio, the sides of her mouth twitching. “At least not with me and probably not with her either.”

“Yeah, no,” the spell broken, Danica (Had he even gotten her name the night before? Probably not.It was nice. Unusual. Very Cligne somehow.) started pulling on her clothes in a rush. “Not today. I’ve got to get to the power plant. But I’m free for dinner tomorrow night.”

Gladio just stared, soggy brain cells trying to make sense of what was going on and he had the sneaky suspicion that he’d been had somehow. He’d have to count the gil in his wallet later. “Uh, yeah. That’d be fine. Good. Yeah.” What was he even agreeing to?

“Great! I’ll come by about seven. We’ve got a rule at our house,” Danica hopped into her jeans and flopped backwards onto his bed to get them zipped.

“No dates past the mailbox,” Penny said from behind her hand. “It keeps the drama down. Listen, I have to go.”

“Oh shit, Penny I’m sor….” Gladio started belatedly but was cut off by Penny’s raised hand.

“I do not accept apologies from men who made a date with me then sleep with my best friend and roommate,” Penny explained primly.

“Aw, man. Here it comes,” Danica snickered as she clamored into her boots.

“Particularly if they are sloppy kissers and don’t have the decency to put clothes on when caught.” At this, her resolve failed her and she began to laugh. She tried to stifle it at first, but once started, it seemed that she just could not stop and that set Danica off as well.

“Hey, that’s mean,” Gladio complained, snatching one of the sheets off his bed and covering himself much later than he should have. He attempted to defend his manhood with a sulky, “I didn’t hear any complaints last night.”

Both women could only laugh harder, their voices mixing in harmony as they made their way to the door supporting one another in their weaving mirth, Danica reminding him with a wheeze, “Seven o’clock! Tomorrow!”

Gladio as half tempted to tell her not to bother if this was the beating that his ego was going to take but they were gone before he could.

He’d messed this one up, big time it seemed. But that still didn’t mean that the teasing and laughter made sense. Anger, sure. But the cackling? That cut deep.

Until he walked into his bathroom and figured out why.

He was covered in ink. There were light purple hearts drawn and colored in over his nipples, and she’d traced the outline of his erection on each thigh and in the space under his navel. Even his tattoo had been colored in, front, back and arms. It was a disaster.

And he couldn’t help but laugh himself after the shock had worn off. Amusement turned to planning revenge however when a shower revealed that the ink was permanent.


	2. Whispers in the Dark

Twelve years, one shotgun wedding, one separation, Gladio’s PTSD, Danica’s career overhaul, and 5 daughters later, things were completely chaotic but actually pretty good in the Amicitia-Navarro household.

Not tonight of course because tonight, Gladio and Danica were The Worst Parent’s EVER! To nearly 11-year-old Caris. Obviously, that was the only explanation as to why they refused to let her go to the Summer Festival with no supervision other than her also pre-teen friends. Caris’s door-slamming habits had set off the twins crying which had made Beatrix overload which had made Laurea try to fix it all only to make it worse because she was only 9.

Hysterics had calmed down and everyone was in bed save for twins who required Daddy to read them two books, no daddy two for Antonia and two for Octavia! And one more for sweet dreams cause you read a scary one last. That’s better. Now cuddle us both. And wrangle us both into bed somehow without waking us up. Well, I don’t know how you are going to get your arm out of there but it’ll take at least an hour so you best get comfortable.

And at last, he was heading to bed himself, rotating his arm to get the blood flowing again. He peeked into the other bedroom along the way, making sure that Caris had actually gone to sleep and not made a run for it like she’d threatened. Nope, still there.

Where would she go anyway? Danica woke up at the slightest creak of a floor board, even if it was just him slipping into bed. Gladio snuggled in behind her, kissing her shoulder, and smiling at her sigh. “You sure we can’t put that one back? I don’t think she’s done yet,” he whispered into her ear. She wasn’t the only light sleeper in the house.

Danica smothered a giggle with her hand and rolled over, peering at him in the pale sliver of light through the blinds. “Funny you should mention that. Remember how we were done having kids? Then the twins happened?”

“Uh-huh,” he confirmed into her neck.

“Well, seems we aren’t. Done, I mean.” Her laugh was half-hearted and breath-quiet. “Congrats,” she said in a stage whisper, “You’re gonna be a dad! Again! At forty-five!”

A heavy, loaded silence settled on the room and Gladio didn’t move an inch. This was a lot to take in. Because they really had been done. Or so he thought. “So,” he finally replied, thoughtful, “It’s the sex that causes ‘em.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For Tumblr's FFXV RarePairs Week, Day 8: whispers in the dark.

**Author's Note:**

> Gladio was impressed enough with the lady in question that he didn't deny that he was considering marriage, just trying to be smart about it, given the circumstances. But, Gladio being Gladio I can't imagine that it would have started off all that smoothly. 
> 
> Well, that and I just enjoy putting Gladio into positions where he's messed up and has to cope with it.
> 
> For day 1 of Tumblr's FFXV Rarepairs Week: Song. (Super loose interpretation, sorry)


End file.
